CSI: LA: Sideways Falling
by almathea
Summary: Set after Take it on the Otherside. Same quirky twist. More of a summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** It's all mine, except the random stuff I stole… cough uh, borrowed from Alice in Wonderland. And the lyrics. Not mine. All from Red Hot Chili Peppers songs.

**Summary:** Set after the events of 'Take it on the Otherside', we now delve into the mind of Tobias Oxenstierna as he ponders his situation and relives the moments that led to his return to Fairview Mental Hospital.

**Sideways Falling**

**Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole**

I was back.

They had locked me in here when I started talking to dead people, thinking I'd dropped my marbles down the drain, and now I was back. I hadn't really been crazy before, what made them think I was now? It hadn't been that big of a deal, what were a few hallucinations between friends?

I once again surveyed the padded room around me. White. Everything was white. The walls, the clothes, the little white pills they give you when you get too loud. No, they usually said hell with the pills, straight on to the Thorazine. So much faster than pills. They'd gotten smart a long time ago. You couldn't hide a Thorazine injection under your tongue. There was no choice anymore. It's been a long time since a good, quality patient riot. Most of the patients are too doped up to care what's going on out there.

_In the water where I center my emotion, all the world can pass me by…_

As long as I stay calm, my head stays clear. First sign of trouble and I'll get tranked again. So, I have to sit here all serene-like, so they don't get suspicious. I won't get another chance like last time.

_I wonder if this the same room_… Who can tell? All the rooms probably look the same, so no one gets jealous of someone else's view. Right, the view. Of the wall. It's a pretty wall, don't you doubt it. Like those fancy pillow-top mattresses. Only bigger… and room-shaped.

Oh God, I'm trapped inside a pillow-top mattress! Where those counting sheep will chase me through a million sleepless nights. There's no escape from their wrath. But I won't do it! I won't count! I can't, not here. What if I miscount, what if skip 37 again? Those fluffy sheep aren't so nice then. Sharp incisors and canines appear out of nowhere, and they do the dirty work, so the sheep in white lab-coats can keep their consciences clear.

I'm not crazy, it's just the drugs talking. That's what I tell myself every day. How did I get in here, you ask? I ask myself the same thing. The answer is a little fuzzy around the edges, and a bit foggy in the middle.

* * *

It all began with a jaunt down the rabbit hole.

They say that these things are brought on by stress. I didn't feel stressed, but hey, they're the experts. Who am I to argue? As far as I can tell, one day I was normal, and the next, I… wasn't.

It was a kidnapping case. A little girl. Everything pointed to her being taken from her house, and out through the small forest-thing behind the house. Maybe it was a park. Whatever. So, I checked it out. And there she was, I saw her, clear as day, under a stand of birch trees, half covered in leaves. I turned around and called back toward the house. Rebekah came over and I turned back to show her the body, which was… gone. In its place, a rabbit.

The conclusion was obvious. "He took her!" I cried, pointing at the rabbit. Instead of apprehending the villain, Rebekah just stared at me. What was wrong with her? Why didn't she understand? I knew her, she was smart. What was going on here?

I pointed again. "He's taken her down his rabbit hole!" It made perfect sense, why couldn't she see that?

Rebekah looked down at the rabbit. Finally, we were getting somewhere. "Tobias," she said softly, "that's a rabbit."

"Yeah," I said, matter-of-factly. I knew it was a rabbit! Who else would have a rabbit hole? Not a badger, nor an ermine—

"Are you okay?" she asked, still speaking softly. She looked… worried? Why could that be?

"I'm… yes, fine…" The ground suddenly leaned sharply to the right. I grabbed a nearby tree trunk for support. This had to be _his_ doing. "Damn rabbit…"

I looked at Rebekah. She seemed to be having no trouble standing. I let go of the tree and straightened up. Gravity was back to normal. No, wait… The scenery did a sudden counter-clockwise 270 at lightening speed. Then everything went careening to the left, and it all went black as the ground flew up and crashed into my head.

_You can die but you're never dead, spider web…_

I woke up to someone calling my name. What could they want? Couldn't they see I was busy? I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at Rebekah. What was she doing here? I looked around. I was laying on the leaf-strewn ground. Then it all came back to me.

"Did you get him?" I asked. Damned if I was going to let that rabbit get away.

Rebekah looked at me with concern, then sighed. "Um, yeah. We're taking him in for questioning."

I nodded. "Good. But watch out, things get weird when he starts turning the up and down off."

She smiled a little, but her eyes still looked worried. "Ok, I'll be careful," she said in a near whisper as she brushed my hair off my forehead. She looked up, back towards the house, as I heard approaching sirens.

"What's going on?" I asked, as people started walking towards us. "I'm fine, you know." I started to sit up, but paused as a bout of dizziness hit me. I thought I was going to hit my head on the ground again, until I felt a hand on back, holding me up. It helped me move into a proper sitting position. I looked over my shoulder to see Rebekah, now sliding behind me, to keep me steady.

There was some sort of conversation between this EMT fellow and Rebekah. I mostly tuned them out. I was on auto-pilot for the next half-hour or so. I vaguely recall being at the hospital, where I got a CAT-scan and various other things that don't make a very exciting story. Then, before I knew it, I was back here, at ol' Fairview.

* * *

So, near as I can tell, that's how I got here. Apparently accusing a rabbit of kidnapping is grounds for insanity. I wouldn't be so sure. First the rabbits, then the sheep. Pretty soon we won't be able to trust any innocent-looking herbivores.

I think putting me in the institution was a little harsh. So what if I ran down the hall of the hospital screaming, "You'll never catch the gingerbread man!" There's nothing wrong with that.

They'll never find Alice without me. That's the little girl, you know. They're looking in totally the wrong places. She's been taken down the rabbit hole, into the looking glass. They haven't even checked those. They're busy questioning the family and chasing pedophiles. All wrong. Just wait, when they run out of leads, they'll look in the rabbit hole, but it'll be too late by then. She'll be gone, taken through the looking glass to the other side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Characters are mine, Alice in Wonderland is not. Neither are Chili Peppers' song lyrics.

**Chapter 2: Time for Tea**

Rebekah's here today. She tries to come by at least once a week. That's nice of her, I think. I smiled at her when she came in. I always do. She's the only one around who doesn't try to stick me with a needle. She always looks kind of sad when she's here. I think it's 'cause I look hell. I seriously need a haircut, but for some reason they won't let me near sharp objects.

But no matter that now. It's time for tea.

There's not really any tea, but when I have a visitor, they actually offer lunch that looks like something you might want to eat. We sat on the floor of my room with a tray between us. I picked up a Styrofoam cup of water and eyed it suspiciously. I could see them. The marks. The sheep had gotten to this one. I wrinkled my nose.

"I want a clean cup!" I said, somewhat loudly and to no one in particular.

"Here, take mine," Rebekah offered, and traded me cups. She was never bothered by the sheep marks. She was always good like that. I vaguely wondered if she would be like that if I wasn't in here.

She looked at me for a minute, then said, "I'm almost afraid to ask, but are you the Mad Hatter by chance?"

At first I thought it was a weird question, but then it started to make sense. I nodded a little. "Yeah, maybe." I thought about it some more. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"So…" she began, "you doing okay in here?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I rather be back out there, though. Find that girl yet?"

She looked a little surprised at my sudden change of subject. "Um, no. Not yet."

"Checked the rabbit hole yet?"

She sighed. "Tobias, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but a rabbit can't drag an eight-year-old down his rabbit hole."

I gave her a little smile. "That's what you think. Just you wait. He'll take her through the looking glass, and then _I'll_ find her."

Rebekah gave me a funny look. It was like she really wanted to believe me, but there was something stopping her. I guess if she agreed with me, they'd throw her in her with me. I couldn't expect her to do that. Somehow I don't think she'd do too good in here.

She looked at her watch. "I need to get back to work."

"When will you be back?"

"Soon as I can."

"Tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.

She looked sad. "Probably not. But in a few days, whenever I can get a break."

"Okay."

When she was gone, I had nothing to do but go back to contemplating my existence, and trying to find Alice. There were only so many places where she could be.

A few days after that, they decided I wasn't going to kill anyone, so they let me out into the common areas. There wasn't much to do there, but at least it was something beyond pillow-top mattress land. You can only watch the walls melt for so long. On the other hand, there are some pretty wacky people out there. There's a woman who thinks she's on the second voyage of the Titanic. And a guy who's terrified of shoes. Then there's the ones who just… aren't there. They're the worst. The ones who stare out the window, drooling and rocking. They don't know who or where they are, and they don't care. As long as they can look out that window. Watching, waiting. For what, no one knows, and it won't do any good to ask. They are in their own little world, and you're not invited.

_With the birds I'll share this lonely view…_

I wonder if they know where Alice is, if they can see beyond the looking glass. But it wouldn't help. I doubt if they can spot one little girl, among the thousands of layers, for each world has a looking glass into the next. They're all stacked up, like window panes, and we're all stuck between them.

I spent my days in this room, at night returning to my own room. They had transferred me to an ordinary room, with a bed and everything. When Rebekah came to visit me, we could sit on a couch in the common room, like ordinary people. It was almost like being on the outside again.

It felt like I had been there forever. It may have been weeks, months, maybe even years. But one day, I saw it. I hadn't noticed it before because in order to get to that side of the common room, I would have to walk past Titanic Woman, and she creeped me out. She was always whistling at me. But any way, one day she wasn't there. I don't know why, they don't tell us these things. But gone she was. So, I wandered over there, and that's when I saw it. The Looking Glass. It had been here all along. It was a big oval, maybe three feet by two. It had a thick gold frame around it. I knew this was it. This was where that rabbit had taken Alice.

For days I studied it, trying to figure out how exactly I was going to get Alice out. She wouldn't be able get out by herself, so I'd have to go in after her. I ran my hands over the smooth surface. It looked solid enough, but that was only skin deep, so to speak. I waited until there were relatively few people in the common room. I sent anyone who came near me packing with quick glare. Crazy people tend to try to avoid trouble. I paced back and forth in front of the looking glass, debating angles, velocity, and what-not. I had to do it. It was now or never. Standing straight in front of it, I slammed my fists and forearms again the looking glass, and slid into another world. I heard a few screams and a commotion somewhere behind me, but they were not my concern now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Same as before.

**Chapter 3: Into the Looking Glass**

I found myself standing in the woods, where I had first seen Alice in the leaves. I turned to look back at the house, but it was shrouded in a thick fog. Well, actually everything beyond about twenty feet was lost in the fog. But that didn't matter. All I needed was right here. I just had to find that rabbit hole. It had to be near those birch trees, since Alice disappeared so quickly.

After a moment of searching, I found it. It wasn't all that big, it was amazing that Alice had fit down it. How was I going to fit? I knelt down on the ground and looked into the hole. I couldn't see where it led, because it angled sharply a few feet in. For lack of a better idea, I reached one arm down the rabbit hole. What was I expecting to find? I hadn't a clue. When I was starting to think that I was going to need a shovel, something furry moved past my fingertips.

"Aha!" I declared gleefully, then abruptly stopped as pain shot through my hand as something with _very_ sharp claws grabbed onto me. It pulled me deeper into the rabbit hole. Just as I was wondering if it was going to rip my arm off, I found myself completely surrounded by dirt, being pulled through the rabbit hole, which seemed a bit bigger now. Or maybe I was smaller. No time to argue.

Well, the next thing I knew, I was in a chamber of some sort. I saw that confounded rabbit sitting right in front of me.

"Where have you taken her?" I demanded. He just wiggled his little rabbit nose at me. I would just have to find her on my own. I surveyed the room around me. There were several other tunnels leading in various directions. They looked big enough for me to fit through. I looked back at the tunnel I had entered through. It was rabbit-sized again. I'd have to find an alternate means of departure…

I turned back to the rabbit, to further interrogate it, or something. But it was gone. "Damn." Oh well. It wasn't being very cooperative anyway.

There were three tunnels to choose from. How was I supposed to know which one to follow? Which one would lead me to Alice? I peered into each one, they all angled down before long. Finally, I randomly selected the middle one. It wasn't tall enough for me to stand up in, so I wound up walking, almost crawling, hunched over like a gorilla. As predicted, it slanted down rather steeply, for God knows how long. I was starting to think it would never end, when it leveled out, and I could see a bit of light around a corner.

After a few meandering curves, the tunnel opened up into daylight. It was a forest, but one very different from the one I had come from. Everything was so damn… _green_. Sunlight filtered down through the dense trees, onto a path meandering into the distance. The place was full of little hills and valleys, and the path wound merrily over it all. I really had no choice but to follow the path and see where it led.

_Miles and miles of nether worlds I roam… _

After maybe fifteen minutes, I came upon a clearing, in the center of which was a low table. On the table was a deck of playing cards. When I approached the table, a massive gray tabby cat—now I'm talking at least a 25-pounder—appeared seemingly out of the woodwork. It sat down at the other side of the table and placed a fore-paw on the deck of cards.

'_Want to play?'_ it asked, though I never saw its mouth move.

Ordinarily, I would have thought this was a waste of time, me being on a mission and all. But here, in this world, it might serve a purpose of its own. Perhaps I could gather intel about Alice's whereabouts from this telepathic feline.

"Sure, why not," I said as I sat down on the ground by the table.

'_Five-card stud, no time for betting,'_ he said as he dealt the cards. I'm not sure how he did it, without opposable thumbs and all. But anyway, he did it. I looked at the cards I'd been dealt. Full house, kings and jacks. What are the odds of that?

'_What you got?'_ the cat asked. I laid my cards down on the table and looked expectantly at him. Then I noticed he was now only holding one card. He laid it on the table and grinned, as best a cat can. '_Queen of Hearts'll beat you every time.'_

"Wait now, how's that work?" I demanded.

'_Who are you to argue? You're not from around here,'_ he retorted.

I sighed. "Fine. You win. Now… do you know where I might find Alice?"

The giant tabby looked at me like I was stupid. '_The Queen of Hearts, I thought I explained that. Ask her.'_

"Where do I find her?"

'_Just follow the path. When you get there, you'll know it.'_

"Um, okay. Thanks, I guess." I stood up and started down the path again. I glanced back towards the cat, but he was gone.

* * *

An eternity down the trail, there was nothing around but trees and obnoxiously happy little flowers, and I was starting to regret getting directions from a cat. Sure, a telepathic cat, but a cat just the same. Maybe this is why they thought I was insane…

Abruptly, the forest opened up into a vast meadow, in the midst of which was a hill with a high stone wall encircling it about halfway up. Inside the wall seemed to be a castle or a fortress of some kind. "When you get there, you'll know it…" I muttered to myself.

I headed up the hill, towards a big ol' gate in one side. It was one of those metal cage-ish gates, like you'd find in a prison or something. I looked in through the bars. There were guards walking back and forth and around the courtyard. They wore tunic-like things that looked like playing cards. All hearts, but with different numbers on them. This was definitely the place.

"Um, hey there guys…" I started awkwardly. The guards all stopped and looked at me. One, with the Ace of Hearts on his tunic, approached the gate.

"Who are you? What business have you here?" he demanded.

"I'm, uh, here to see the Queen…?" He looked like he was going to laugh at me. "The cat sent me."

"Cat?" he asked suspiciously.

"The Cheshire cat, I guess."

"Oh, him. He's always sending the losers from his poker games here."

"He cheats," I said flatly.

The guard, who I had mentally nicknamed Ace, dismissed that comment with a wave of his hand. "What business have you with the Queen?"

"I'm trying to find Alice."

Ace motioned to one of the other guards, who raised the gate. He then led me across the courtyard towards the castle. The castle seemed to be a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside. We up a vast spiral staircase, then down another. Then down a hall, around corner, more stairs. On the walls there were huge framed paintings, but they too looked like playing cards. Face cards, to be specific. Half of one really, so they didn't have the inverted face on the bottom. One at the top of a staircase was the King of Clubs. A small placard underneath labeled him as "Crazy Cousin Charlie".

At last we reached a door, which Ace started to open. He paused and turned to me. "Don't be surprised if she's expecting you." He pushed the door open the rest of the way. Inside was what appeared to be an indoor stadium, only smaller. There, a woman with an impossibly thin waist and a man with a mustache and an eye patch were playing croquet. The woman looked over as Ace did an awkward little bow.

"M'Lady, you have a visitor."

She threw her hands up in the air in excitement. "Oh, Tobias! I'm so glad you could make it! Come in, would you like to play?"

"Uh, no thanks, I'm good."

She shrugged, and kind of giggled. "Well, all right. By the way, I am Ama Beris, Queen of Hearts." She gestured to the man with the eye patch. "This is my bodyguard, One-Eyed Jack."

"So, can you help me find—"

Queen Ama put her hand up to cut me off. "Not until after we finish this game."

So, I sat down on the sidelines to watch. But even that was not as simple as it sounds. I almost got my head taken off several times by their unorthodox and violent way of playing. They ricocheted the balls off the walls and ceiling in order to get them where they wanted them to go.

The Queen won in the end, and she jumped up and down in triumph, before doing a cartwheel through the middle of the lawn, her long dress flowing through the air. Regaining her composure, she turned to me.

"Now, about Alice."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **All still apply.

**Chapter 4: Right Where You Left Her**

"So, you believe the rabbit took her?"

"Yes, it had to be him," I asserted. She had listened to my entire tale, all without looking at me like I was crazy. I guess a woman with a twelve-inch waist would believe a lot that normal people would laugh at. I was sure she understood, when she shook her head.

"That's a brilliant theory, Tobias, but I'm afraid you've got it all wrong."

"I— what?"

"He didn't take her. He was just trying to show you where she was."

"Wha— but I thought… So, where is she?"

The Queen of Hearts gave me a sad little smile, like she felt sorry for me. "You already know that."

I was starting to get seriously frustrated. "What? No, I don't!"

"Sure you do. She's right where you left her." She took my hand and led towards a large window that I hadn't noticed before. It may not have even been there earlier. Through the glass, I could see the courtyard, the wall, and the woods beyond it. A thick fog suddenly rose up from the ground, then faded away as quickly as it had come. Now below me I saw the woods where I had first seen Alice. That scene faded into another, one of Rebekah walking to her car outside Fairview, hastily wiping her eyes to ward off tears that were threatening to escape. This was how she was every time she came to see me, I somehow knew it. Before I could contemplate that thought further, the scenery faded into the common room on the third floor of Fairview. It was like looking into the room from inside the looking glass. Of course, because that's where I was. There were people there, doctors, orderlies, and patients. They were all moving in slow motion, some of them away from me, but most of them moved toward me.

"What do I do now?" I asked without turning back toward the Queen.

"Go find Alice," she replied, then gave be an abrupt shove to the shoulder blades. I pitched forward toward the window, throwing my arms up to try to stop myself, but to no avail. I hit the glass with my forearms and fell through as the window shattered.

Next thing I knew, I hit the ground on my side, hard. I could hear shattered glass hitting the floor and screams and shouts from across the room. There was a flurry of motion all around me. I rolled and tried to push myself up, but my hands were wet and slid on the floor. I looked down at them. Blood oozed from thousands of tiny cuts on my forearms and the edges of my hands, running down across my hands, making them slippery.

I shifted into a sitting position, and sat just staring down at my hands. The blood dripped off my fingertips and started to puddle on the floor. I became vaguely aware of someone talking to me. I looked up at a nurse who was looking at me with concern and talking incoherently. I squinted at her, and her words began to make sense.

"…just stay calm… You'll be all right…"

"Stop talking," I muttered. Couldn't she see I _was_ calm? If I was any more calm, I'd be dead! Wait, maybe I was… Could this all be some twisted version of the afterlife? If that was the case, when did I die? And why the hell did the afterlife put me in an asylum?! Oh wait, that's it… this must be hell. God damn it, I'm in hell! What did I do to deserve this?! I've been a good person, hell, I've saved lives! And I'm in hell? What kind of shit is this?!

During the course of my mental marathon, I had been pulled to my feet and taken down the hall. Now I found myself sitting on a metal table, as my arms and hands were being wrapped in gauze. All the while, questions still burned in my mind.

Was this hell? Where was Alice?

* * *

"Hey, how are you doing?" Rebekah knelt in front of me, back in my padded room. They had called her as soon as they had bandaged my cuts, and she came. She always came.

"'m fine." I stared past her at the floor. "Right where I left her, she's right where I left her."

"What?"

"Alice, she's right where I left her."

"What does that mean?"

"Dunno." I looked her straight in the eye. "She's still out there. I have to find her."

"Tobias—"

"Please," I begged her. "Get me a day pass or something. She's out there, right where I left her."

She must have thought I knew what I was talking about because she left for a little while, and when she came back she handed me a box with my street clothes in it.

Before I knew it, I was outside in the sunlight at last. It felt like I had been locked up in there for years. Wait, that could be important…

"Hey, Rebekah?" She turned to look at me, and I asked, "How long have I been in there?"

"A little over a month," she replied.

_That's all?_ I thought. It seemed like a _lot_ more than that. But still, Alice had been missing for a month. There wasn't much of a chance of finding her alive. But that wouldn't stop me from trying.

Rebekah drove me out to the little forest-park thing where it had all began. I headed straight for the spot where I had seen the rabbit. Rebekah looked unsure. "Um, remind me again what we're doing here?"

I turned toward her and gave her my best 'I already explained this' look. "She's right where I left her. This is the last place I saw her, so she has to be here somewhere."

"There's nothing here but trees and leaves."

_Leaves_, my mind muttered to itself. I looked at the leaves spread out across the ground. So perfect and even… Then it hit me. I nearly jumped up and down at my revelation.

"Hey, hey… notice anything weird about these leaves?"

Rebekah looked at me like she regretted taking me out of the institution. "No, they're just leaves."

"Aha! No!" I began talking at a hundred miles an hour. "They're all even, like maybe they were raked, but if you were gonna rake leaves, wouldn't you pick them up, and not just spread them out?" I dropped to my knees in the leaves and started brushing them aside. "Unless they were put here to cover something up!"

She decided maybe I wasn't so nuts after all, and started help me move the leaves. Concealed underneath them was a wooden trap door, like to a cellar or something. It had one of those sliding bar latches, which I hastily unlatched and started to open the trap door. Rebekah grabbed my forearm to stop me.

"Are you just going to storm in there?"

I nodded. "It might be the only chance Alice has." She moved out of the way and I pulled the door up and laid it down next to the opening. I paused a moment and gave her a little grin. "Down the rabbit hole, eh?"

I headed somewhat cautiously down the steps. At the bottom was a dank, gloomy cellar with a few random shelves containing a few random objects. I stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking around. Rebekah came part way down the stairs and stood behind me. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw something in the back corner. As I approached, the shapeless lump became a small girl, curled up under a thin blanket, clutching a red crayon. Above her, on the wall, was a handful of childish scribbles, in the center of which was a large and bright red heart. It was the Queen of Hearts who had led me down here.

I focused my attention on Alice. At first I thought she was dead, but when I knelt down beside her, she lifted her head and looked at me. I turned and called over my shoulder at Rebekah, who now stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"I found her. Right where I left her."


	5. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: **Yep, they're still the same.

**Epilogue **

Rebekah had called everyone she could think of. The cops, the crime lab, the hospital, social services, basically anyone who might want to know that Alice was alive and well. Before long the quiet stand of trees was surrounded by a excited throng of people, all talking amongst themselves. Alice had been taken to the hospital, and her parents had been arrested. They had known where she was all along, and only when a neighbor had questioned Alice's whereabouts did they feign a kidnapping. They had been locking her down in the cellar regularly for years, as a form of punishment. Normally they would have let her out after a few hours or days, but with all the police interest, they couldn't risk it. People would undoubtedly wonder how and when she had been delivered from the "kidnappers." They had no choice but to leave her down there until they could come up with a better plan, all the while sneaking out there in the dead of night to leave a day's worth of food and water.

But the psychotic behavior of these parents was not my greatest concern. I was technically, medically, legally, completely insane. There was no way that they were going to let me go back to work like this. So there was a hearing, to determine my competency. Rebekah promised to say good things on my behalf.

"You _did_ solve the case and save the girl," she had pointed out. She sort of shook her head. "I have no idea how you did it, but somehow…"

I was just as confused about that as everyone else. How had I seen her, there in the leaves? At the hearing they asked me that. _How did you know where to find the girl? Did you have a hand in putting her there?_ I don't know. I just saw her there, clear as day. I didn't ask for this, but here it is, and what am I supposed to do with it? They decided I wasn't a criminal, but my sanity was another story.

According to the _fine_ experts in psychology at Fairview Mental Hospital, I was suffering from schizophrenia, the onset of the symptoms of which had first appeared seven months earlier during the case of the murders by Jacob Erikson. Though they didn't know how I knew when Erikson was going to kill, they were convinced that the visions of his first victim were merely hallucinations. Seeing Alice right above the spot where she was being held captive _had_ to just be a similar situation.

It was decided that technically, I couldn't continue to work with the crime lab because my altered state of mind could prove to be compromising. As I cleaned out my locker, Vivian came in and said, "If you need anything, just let us know, we'll do what we can." She paused for a moment, as if weighing her options. Then she continued without explanation of what she was thinking. "I'll talk to your psychiatrist about it, and I'm not making any promises… But if we ever need your help, we'll call you." With that she turned and walked out of the room.

_Throw me to the sky because I know I'm coming back…

* * *

_

**A/N:** This is probably the last of this 'series' for awhile. I'm going to write a more conventional CSI: LA series, with a pilot episode that reintroduces all the characters and everything. Stay tuned for that. As always, reviews are much appreicated.


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